''The Southern Review'' is a quarterly

literary magazine A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry, and essays, along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and lett ...

that was established by

Robert Penn Warren Robert Penn Warren (April 24, 1905 – September 15, 1989) was an American poet, novelist, and literary critic and was one of the founders of New Criticism. He was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. He founded the lit ...

in 1935 at the behest of Charles W. Pipkin and funded by

Huey Long Huey Pierce Long Jr. (August 30, 1893September 10, 1935), nicknamed "the Kingfish", was an American politician who served as the 40th governor of Louisiana from 1928 to 1932 and as a United States senator from 1932 until his assassination ...

as a part of his investment in

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 n ...

. It publishes

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a tradi ...

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meani ...

, critical

essay An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...

s, and excerpts from

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself ...

s in progress by established and emerging writers and includes reproductions of

visual art The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts ...

. ''The Southern Review'' continues to follow Warren's articulation of the mission when he said that it gives "writers decent company between the covers, and oncentrateseditorial authority sufficiently for the journal to have its own distinctive character and quality".

History

An earlier ''Southern Review'' was published in

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

from 1828 to 1832, and another in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...

from 1867 to 1879. The initial staff consisted of

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

Charles W. Pipkin,

and

Cleanth Brooks Cleanth Brooks ( ; October 16, 1906 – May 10, 1994) was an American literary critic and professor. He is best known for his contributions to New Criticism in the mid-20th century and for revolutionizing the teaching of poetry in American higher ...

as managing editors, and Albert Erskine as business manager. In 1942, after 28 issues, publishing was interrupted and restarted again in 1965. Past editors-in-chief and co-editors have been Albert R. Erskine Jr., Lewis P. Simpson, Donald E. Stanford, James Olney, Fred Hobson, Dave Smith,

Bret Lott Bret Lott (born October 8, 1958) is the ''New York Times'' author and professor of English at the College of Charleston. He is '' Crazyhorse'' magazine's nonfiction editor and leads a study abroad program every summer to Spoleto, Italy. Lott w ...

, Jeanne M. Leiby, Cara Blue Adams, and

Emily Nemens Emily Nemens is an American writer, editor and illustrator. From April 2018 to March 2021 she served as the editor of '' The Paris Review''. Life and education Born in Seattle, Nemens studied art history and studio art at Brown University. At L ...

. The co-editors as of August 2018 are Sacha Idell and Jessica Faust.

Reception

In 1936, shortly after the journal's founding, poetry editor Morton D. Zabel credited ''The Southern Review'' with "a competence almost unrivaled at the moment in American letters." In 1941, on the occasion of the journal's 5th anniversary,

John Crowe Ransom John Crowe Ransom (April 30, 1888 – July 3, 1974) was an American educator, scholar, literary critic, poet, essayist and editor. He is considered to be a founder of the New Criticism school of literary criticism. As a faculty member at Kenyon ...

stated "''The Southern Review''s five year achievement is close to the best thing in the history of American letters."

Timeline

* 1935: ''The Southern Review'' is established. The first issue includes work by

Wallace Stevens Wallace Stevens (October 2, 1879 – August 2, 1955) was an American modernist poet. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, educated at Harvard and then New York Law School, and spent most of his life working as an executive for an insurance compa ...

Randall Jarrell Randall Jarrell (May 6, 1914 – October 14, 1965) was an American poet, literary critic, children's author, essayist, and novelist. He was the 11th Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress—a position that now bears the title Poe ...

Ford Madox Ford Ford Madox Ford (né Joseph Leopold Ford Hermann Madox Hueffer ( ); 17 December 1873 – 26 June 1939) was an English novelist, poet, critic and editor whose journals '' The English Review'' and ''The Transatlantic Review'' were instrumental in ...

Katherine Anne Porter Katherine Anne Porter (May 15, 1890 – September 18, 1980) was an American journalist, essayist, short story writer, novelist, and political activist. Her 1962 novel ''Ship of Fools'' was the best-selling novel in America that year, but her sh ...

, and

Aldous Huxley Aldous Leonard Huxley (26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. He wrote nearly 50 books, both novels and non-fiction works, as well as wide-ranging essays, narratives, and poems. Born into the prominent Huxle ...

. * 1942: Publication suspended due to World War II. * 1965: Lewis P. Simpson and Donald E. Stanford relaunch the magazine. * 1983: James Olney joins Lewis P. Simpson as co-editor. * 1987: Fred Hobson joins James Olney as co-editor. * 1990: Dave Smith joins James Olney as co-editor. * 2004: Bret Lott assumes editorship. * 2006: The magazine wins first place for Best Journal Design in the CELJ International Awards Competition. * 2008: Jeanne M. Leiby becomes editor * 2011: Jessica Faust and Cara Blue Adams become co-editors. * 2013: Emily Nemens joins Jessica Faust as co-editor. * 2018: Sacha Idell joins Jessica Faust as co-editor.

References

External links

* * The Southern Review Records. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. {{DEFAULTSORT:Southern Review, The Magazines established in 1935 American Southern literary magazines Quarterly magazines published in the United States English-language magazines Louisiana State University Magazines published in Louisiana Mass media in Baton Rouge, Louisiana Louisiana State University Press books

History

Reception

Timeline

See also

References

Further reading

External links